College-bound
teenagers and their parents often can be overwhelmed by the choices
and requirements of college admissions. What courses are important
to take in high school? How significant are extracurricular activities,
essays, test scores, and interviews?

The
answers are right here on campus and available to Penn employees
and their families, whether their students plan to apply to Penn
or elsewhere.

The
Undergraduate Admissions Office will host two seminars this week
for Penn families whose teenagers are beginning the college search
process. One session will be held at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, September
3, in the Ben Franklin Room of Houston Hall; it will be repeated
on Thursday, September 5, also at 5:15 p.m., in the Terrace Room
in Logan Hall.

The
sessions will focus on the college selection process for large
and small, public and private colleges. Admissions officers will
discuss what it takes to gain admission to a competitive college,
how to get the most out of a campus visit, and other issues such
as financial aid.

The
seminars are free, and the office requests participants to RSVP
to (215) 898-7126, or seminars@admissions.ugao.upenn.edu.

Researchers
are often interested in learning about funding opportunities for
support of their research programs. The Office of the Vice Provost
for Research's website (www.upenn.edu/research/)
provides access to a service that is available to individual Penn
researchers, under a University-wide subscription from the provider,
Info-Ed. This service consists of three parts: SPIN, GENIUS, and
SMARTS.

SPIN
permits the researcher to search for program announcements in
an area of her/his interest.

GENIUS
permits the researcher to enter a brief professional profile,
including a list of keywords that identify program announcements
of interest to that researcher.

Under
this program, the researcher can request regular downloads of
announcements that will be sent as an e-mail, under the rubric
of SMARTS.

Since
Info-Ed accesses >2,800 different sponsors, including Federal,
State, and private not for profit funding sources, a wide variety
of opportunities are available. Users can take advantage of any
or all three of the services offered according to their individual
preferences. Directions are provided on the website. Questions
should be addressed to Josie Rook, Assistant Vice Provost for
Research, atrookj@pobox,
or (215) 898-7236.

Penn
Express Modem Pool Discontinued on 6/30/02

The
Express Modem Pool was discontinued as planned on June 30, 2002.
The termination plans were first announced two years ago, when
the regular modem pool was discontinued and users were directed
to commercial ISP services for remote access to PennNet and the
Internet. The Express Pool was used as a transitional service
for the convenience of the Penn community, but employed aging
technology that did not provide the data transfer speeds that
ISPs offer and that are required to take advantage of many of
Penn's online services.

Those
who had been using the Express Modem Pool as their primary ISP
can learn about alternatives at the remote access web page at
www.upenn.edu/computing/remote. The web site provides information
on whom to contact with questions about the policy and how to
get assistance making the transition. A useful chart comparing
service options and prices is available at www.upenn.edu/computing/remote/help_chart.html.